Chapter 18 The Battle of Huangqiao, the New Fourth Army

In September, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Yan'an sent a telegram to Zhou Enlai stationed in Chongqing, asking Zhou to negotiate with the Kuomintang with the following policy: "Han does not attack Chen, Huang does not attack Han; if Han attacks Chen, Huang must attack Han." Here " "Han" refers to Han Deqin, chairman of Jiangsu Province of the national government; "Chen" refers to Chen Yi, and "Huang" refers to Huang Kecheng.It turned out that at this time Chiang Kai-shek set off another anti-communist upsurge, and Han Deqin's department wanted to use the relatively weak New Fourth Army to attack.In response to this, the Fifth Column of the Eighth Route Army, led by Huang Kecheng, rushed to the aid of the New Fourth Army.In this situation, the above-mentioned telegram from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China came into being.

In order to establish an anti-Japanese base area centered on Huangqiao in northern Jiangsu, at the end of July 1940, the troops under the North Jiangsu Command of the New Fourth Army went directly to Huangqiao from the west of Taizhou. Northern Jiangsu, located on the back of Shanghai, Nanjing, Bengbu, and Xuzhou, is rich in strategic materials such as grain, cotton, and salt. It is also the junction of the two strategic groups of Central China and North China of the Japanese invading army.It is of great strategic significance to persist in guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines in northern Jiangsu.

Huangqiao is located in the center of Tai County, Taixing, Jingjiang, Rugao and other counties.Establish a base with Huangqiao as the center, advance to Nantong and Haimen enemy-occupied areas in the east, and respond to the Eighth Route Army in the north.The counties around Huangqiao are rich in products and densely populated, which is very beneficial for the New Fourth Army to persist in guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. In order to implement the policy of "developing eastward", Chen Yi and Su Yu decided to move eastward to Huangqiao. In August, the Fifth Column of the Eighth Route Army marched eastward to the Huaihai area, thus forming a favorable situation for north-south cooperation and opening up the anti-Japanese war situation in northern Jiangsu.In order to maintain the anti-communist position in northern Jiangsu, Han Deqin, deputy commander-in-chief of the KMT's Sulu theater and chairman of Jiangsu Province, attempted to wipe out the New Fourth Army, which was not stable, and then wiped out the Eighth Route Army going south, so he mobilized heavy troops to attack Huangqiao.

The strength of the enemy is obviously stronger than that of the New Fourth Army.But Chen Yi saw that although Han Deqin had more than 150,000 troops, there were many factions, and the contradictions among the various troops were deep, making it difficult to act in unison.These armies are mainly composed of three parts. One part is the 89th Army, which governs the 33rd Division, the 117th Division, the Independent Sixth Brigade, and the Jiangsu Province Standing First to Tenth Security Brigades.This part of the army is Han Deqin's "direct line".The second part is the Sulu Anhui border guerrilla army, which has the first to eleventh columns under its jurisdiction, with a total of about 30,000 people, deployed in Taizhou and its surrounding areas.Li Mingyang was the commander-in-chief of the guerrilla army, and Li Changjiang was the deputy commander-in-chief.They belong to the local power faction.The third part is the eighth guerrilla army adapted from the Tax Police Headquarters of the Ministry of Finance of the Kuomintang. It is commanded by Chen Taiyun and is subordinate to Li Mingyang and Li Changjiang in name, but is actually the force of Song Ziwen's system.

Relying on his own military advantages, Han Deqin always wanted to annex "two Li and one Chen". Although "Two Lis and One Chen" was under the command of Han Deqin, they were very dissatisfied with Han Deqin's ostracism, and they secretly united against Han Deqin.Therefore, these armies have ulterior motives and fight openly and secretly. Chen Yi and Su Yu decided to take advantage of the contradictions among these troops to open up a favorable situation for the resistance war in northern Jiangsu. Under the leadership of Chen Yi and Su Yuzheng's deputy commanders, the Northern Subei Command adhered to the principle of self-defense in a reasonable and courteous manner, and was determined to concentrate its forces and resolutely crush Han Wan's attack.The New Fourth Army took advantage of the internal contradictions of the recalcitrant army and flexibly used its struggle tactics to successfully win over the Li Mingyang Department of the Sulu Anhui Border Guerrilla Army stationed in Tai County (now Taizhou) and the Chen Taiyun Department of the Tax Police Headquarters stationed in Qutang to remain neutral.

On September 3, Han Jianbing was divided into two groups to commit crimes in the south.After the New Fourth Army repelled Han Wan's attack at Yingxi in the first battle, and then captured Jiangyan, they still appealed to Han Wan to "stop the civil war and unite to resist Japan".Han Deqin took the opportunity to propose an armistice on the condition that the New Fourth Army withdraw from Jiangyan, and Chen Yi immediately agreed. On the 30th, the New Fourth Army withdrew from Jiangyan, and Li Mingyang and Chen Taiyun took over the defense.The attitude of the New Fourth Army to be patient and considerate of the overall situation of the War of Resistance won widespread sympathy from people from all walks of life, and further won over Li Mingyang, Li Changjiang and Chen Taiyun, and made Han Deqin even more isolated.

Han Deqin, relying on a large number of soldiers and sufficient food, devoted his main force to the Eighty-ninth Army and the Sixth Independent Brigade, with a total of more than 15,000 people. Separate the left and right wings to cooperate with each other in an attempt to gather and annihilate the New Fourth Army in the Huangqiao area.In view of the inevitable decisive battle, the Northern Subei Headquarters decided to concentrate its forces, adopt active defense, lure them to go deep, and annihilate Han Jian during the movement.Stick to the Yellow Bridge with the third column, covertly gather in the Gugaozhuang and Hengxiang bridges in the northwest of the Yellow Bridge with the first and second columns, and wait for the attack.

The decisive battle at the Yellow Bridge was thrilling. On October 1, Han Deqin's troops marched in unison to attack Huangqiao.The security unit of the New Fourth Army on the outskirts of Huangqiao put up some resistance and retreated voluntarily.Chen Yi's intention was to lure the enemy deep and cover the main force to gather.Han Deqin was really fooled and continued to order the recalcitrant army to advance towards the Yellow Bridge.Chen Yi sits in Xuzhuang, calm and composed.Su Yu went to the front line of Huangqiao to command. On October 3, Han Deqin's troops arrived at the outskirts of Huangqiao.Huang Kecheng, the commander and political commissar of the Fifth Column of the Eighth Route Army, led the main force of the column to assist Huangqiao in the battle, and began to go south to Funing and Yancheng.

On October 4, the enemy's 33rd Division attacked northeast of Huangqiao through the demarcation line.The 117th Division attacked Huangqiao on the line of Yewuji and Hejiatang, and the Independent Sixth Brigade also attacked Huangqiao from the north of Gaoqiao.As soon as the gunshot rang out, various forces in northern Jiangsu were closely watching the outcome of the decisive battle at Huangqiao. Chen Yi analyzed the overall situation and decided to start with the Sixth Brigade to quickly annihilate the enemy. The Solitary Sixth Brigade is Han Deqin's main force.When the vanguard approached the Yellow Bridge, the rear left Gaoqiao, and more than 3,000 people formed a long snake formation.According to Chen Yi's decision, Su Yu, the frontline commander, adopted the method of "weasel eating snakes". He commanded the troops to fight fiercely for 3 hours and wiped out more than 3,000 people in the brigade. Lieutenant General Weng Da was forced to commit suicide.Then, the first, second, and third columns of the New Fourth Army surrounded the enemy's 33rd Division and the headquarters of the 89th Army in the area north of Huangqiao.This road has many enemies and good weapons, and the battle is fierce.Chen Yi reported to the Party Central Committee, Ye Ting, and Xiang Ying in the telegram that Huangqiao had "unprecedented fierce battles", "climbed the roof and stubbornly resisted bayonet seven or eight times", "Our first, second, third, fourth, and ninth regiments attacked fiercely. , Stabbing about a thousand enemy officers and soldiers to death, the enemy's courage begins to grow cold."

In the early morning of the 6th, the battle was basically over.The headquarters of the enemy's 89th Army and most of the 349th Brigade were wiped out. Li Shouwei, the commander of the army, was drowned in the river by enemy soldiers when he fled.Seeing that the situation was over, Han Deqin fled back to Xinghua with more than a thousand remnants.Li Mingyang, Li Changjiang, and Chen Taiyun dared not act rashly. In the Battle of Huangqiao, Chen Yi commanded the New Fourth Army to wipe out more than 11,000 enemies, winning against Hai'an and Dongtai. On the 14th, the Fifth Column of the Eighth Route Army led by Huang Kecheng successfully joined forces with the New Fourth Army units commanded by Chen Yi and Su Yu in Baiju Town, Dongtai County, thus basically completing the strategic task of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army to jointly develop northern Jiangsu.

In November, in accordance with the instructions of the Central Military Commission, the headquarters of the Central China New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army were established.Ye Ting was the commander-in-chief and Chen Yi was the deputy commander-in-chief. After the decisive victory at Huangqiao, Chen Yi happily composed a poem: During the decisive battle of Huangqiao, the local party and government agencies mobilized the masses to join the battle and organized stretcher teams to rush to transport the wounded; thousands of households rushed to make the local specialty "Huangqiao Shaobing", and carts were sent to the front line from all directions. victory played an important role.At that time, Li Zengyuan, drama director of the field service group of the North Jiangsu Command of the New Fourth Army, composer Zhang Mei, Party branch secretary Lin Lin (female), and playwright Wang Yugeng (female) were eating sesame cakes and drinking soy milk in a small restaurant in Huangqiao Town, meeting the crowd The upsurge of supporting the army is in full swing, and I am very moved.Li Zengyuan picked up a piece of biscuits and said: "Huangqiao biscuits are yellow and yellow, and yellow and yellow biscuits are a relief." Lin Lin and Wang Yugeng followed you and me and said: "The biscuits should be cooked with hot fire" and "the army depends on the help of the people." , "Comrades, eat your fill", "The more you win, the more you pay your guns"!After the meal, Wang Yugeng and Lin Lin asked Li Zengyuan to hand over the finished lyrics (6 paragraphs in total) to Zhang Mei to compose the music. "Huangqiao Shaobing Song" came out soon, and it was sung among the generals and the people, and spread to all directions along with the good news of the victory of the Battle of Huangqiao.Back then, Chiefs Chen and Su also loved singing this song. Decades later, some veterans of the New Fourth Army gathered in Beijing. Ye Fei, then vice chairman of the National People's Congress, said excitedly: "Zhang Mei, sing "Huangqiao Shaobing Song"!" Putonghua and vigorous voices sang: "Huangqiao Shaobing is yellow and yellow", and the veterans clapped and sang: "Yellow and yellow Shaobing is a comfort..." The singing brought them back to the Huangqiao battlefield of blood and fire in their youth.